Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 107096 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 535(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107096 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 535(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
But instead, I looked at her.
I told myself it was because she needed watching, even handcuffed and surrounded by soldiers. But there was another reason.
It was like I knew I was in the presence of something rare, something special, something that’d soon be gone forever and I couldn’t waste a second of the time I had left. I would have just sat there staring, but the others would have noticed and she would have noticed, so I wound up scanning the plane like a lighthouse, gazing out of the windows at the dark clouds rushing by beneath us until I figured I’d saved up enough time. Then I’d allow myself one quick glance across the aisle and in that second I’d eat her up, just devour her in big, hungry chunks, until all too soon I had to look away again. I’d look at Danny or Cal or out of the window, but all I saw was the memory of her face: the liquid glint of her eyes as she stared straight ahead at the seat in front, the silk cushion of her lower lip and that curtain of long, shining red hair….
“You don’t have to fly so low,” JD called to Gina. “For once, this is a legitimate flight.”
“Force of habit,” Gina told him. “Plus, it’s good practice.”
I looked out of the window and, for the first time, I stared long enough to let my eyes adjust to the gloom. Fuck. What I’d thought were dark clouds whipping past below us were actually the tops of trees. My stomach dropped and I looked away. Being at a hundred feet bothers me a lot more than being at thirty thousand feet: I guess the ground feels close enough that I can imagine falling.
An hour passed, then two. I figured we must be over West Virginia but I couldn’t tell because it seemed to have gotten even darker, out there, the ground just featureless blackness beneath us. I sat there slowly scanning around. Tanya. The others. Window. Tanya. The others. Window. Tan—
She was gone.
My sleepy body jerked like someone had just touched me with a live wire. Her seat was empty and she was—there, halfway down the aisle, slipping silently between the snoring Danny and Gabriel.
I clawed at my seat belt release, jumped up and raced after her. By now, she was passing JD. His eyes lifted from his phone and he stared at her in shock. Then he jumped up to grab her, just in time to collide with me. We both cursed. Tanya was heading for the front of the plane: I figured she must be meaning to grab Gina and take the controls. The only person in her way now was Cal. “Cal!” I yelled desperately.
Cal came awake fast and stepped into the aisle. He was so tall, he had to duck his head to avoid the ceiling. He completely blocked her path and I gave a silent sigh of relief. We had her trapped.
But Tanya didn’t even slow down. She stepped right up to Call and punched him, hard and fast in the stomach. And Cal, who I’ve seen shrug off plenty of hits, just folded and staggered backwards towards Gina.
JD and I rushed forward. I wasn’t too worried: even though I was hurt, Cal still made a pretty good barrier. We could still grab Tanya before she made it past him and got to Gina.
Except…she didn’t head for Gina. She turned to the side, pulled on the big red emergency lever and the door hinged open. Tanya glanced over her shoulder at me, her expression unreadable.
Then she stepped out into the darkness and was gone.
8
COLTON
For a second, I froze. Then I forced my way past JD and got to the door, Bracing myself against the sides, I stuck my head out and searched around. Was she clinging to the wing, or to a wheel?
No. Just darkness. She was gone. Someone reached inside my chest, grabbed hold of my heart and crushed it. She’s gone. She killed herself, so that she couldn’t be interrogated. I couldn’t breathe.
And then, as I stared down at featureless black, a white circle appeared, spreading outwards like a smoke ring. I blinked as everything rearranged itself in my head. The featureless darkness below us was water: we must be flying over a lake. And the white circle was a splash.
I sucked in a huge lungful of air and strained my eyes, trying to find the center of the splash. I could barely make anything out but I could see movement. She’s alive! As I got my perception dialed in, I realized how low we were, only about fifty feet above the water.
The splash dropped away behind us. That’s when the relief started to fade and a sickening realization sank in. She’s getting away!